WHAT WILL A FURTHER PROBE REALLY ACHIEVE
What will a further probe really achieve?
AS an Omagh resident I have been deeply saddened by the Ombudsman's damning report criticising Special Branch's handling of events both before and after the Omagh bomb outrage and in particular, the role of the Chief Constable. No doubt his forth right rebuttal of the report's findings were only to be expected.
Little wonder the bereaved families feel totally betrayed, confused even angry and are crying out for someone in authority to tell them just what more can be done to round up the fiends who planned and planted the bomb and have them put behind bars for a very long time.
No one seems to know exactly where the truth really lies and this is why calls are being made to both Prime Ministers to try to move things forward.
After all they both promises three years ago that no effort would be spared to track down the killers. The Ombudsman wants another investigative team to take charge and some of the relatives are even demanding a public inquiry to sort it all out. No one wants' justice to become yet another victim of the atrocity.
The question I would want to pose is very simple and it is this. Will the perpetrators, even if publicly identified, ever come to court, when witnesses are so reluctant for obvious reasons to give evidence there. Is this not the fundamental reason why the investigations through the usual channels are now at a standstill?
One is therefore bound to ask even at the point of despair, what will a further investigation really achieve? Without doubt both RUC and Special Branch will be hammered if the Ombudsman's Report is anything to go by. Will a long drawn out public inquiry, even if names are disclosed, get the culprits into court?
Will all this raking over old ground really help to ease the pain and the suffering of the bereaved families in Omagh and elsewhere? In my opinion, they will have to re-live the indescribable nightmare for a number of years longer. And there has been so much grieving by families, attending funerals, memorial services and protracted inquests.
What more can these good folk really have to take? When exactly is the grieving process expected to end and the healing process to become really effective? Republicans who have got no love for police on either side of the Border will be crowing with sheer delight as the spotlight is shifted from the lawbreakers to those charged with keeping law and order. How, one might ask can prospects for a new police service be enhanced by such an unpleasant spectacle?
I feel strongly that the interests of truth and justice seekers, however commendable will not be served by calling for yet another inquiry at this time. We shall probably never know if the planting of the bomb in Omagh could have been prevented or a single arrest carried out, had more rigorous evidence gathering techniques been adopted. As I see it until the politics in both jurisdictions is strong enough to compel key witnesses to provide the necessary evidence in court, to secure a conviction, another investigation procedure will not only be time wasting and expensive but entirely unproductive. That is my humble opinion.
The bottom line is surely self evident. All of us are agreed that nothing, absolutely nothing anyone can say or do now, can ever bring back those loved ones, whose lives were so swiftly and tragically cut short on Omagh's day of shame, 15th August 1998.
Wilfred Breen
Hospital Road, Omagh
AS an Omagh resident I have been deeply saddened by the Ombudsman's damning report criticising Special Branch's handling of events both before and after the Omagh bomb outrage and in particular, the role of the Chief Constable. No doubt his forth right rebuttal of the report's findings were only to be expected.
Little wonder the bereaved families feel totally betrayed, confused even angry and are crying out for someone in authority to tell them just what more can be done to round up the fiends who planned and planted the bomb and have them put behind bars for a very long time.
No one seems to know exactly where the truth really lies and this is why calls are being made to both Prime Ministers to try to move things forward.
After all they both promises three years ago that no effort would be spared to track down the killers. The Ombudsman wants another investigative team to take charge and some of the relatives are even demanding a public inquiry to sort it all out. No one wants' justice to become yet another victim of the atrocity.
The question I would want to pose is very simple and it is this. Will the perpetrators, even if publicly identified, ever come to court, when witnesses are so reluctant for obvious reasons to give evidence there. Is this not the fundamental reason why the investigations through the usual channels are now at a standstill?
One is therefore bound to ask even at the point of despair, what will a further investigation really achieve? Without doubt both RUC and Special Branch will be hammered if the Ombudsman's Report is anything to go by. Will a long drawn out public inquiry, even if names are disclosed, get the culprits into court?
Will all this raking over old ground really help to ease the pain and the suffering of the bereaved families in Omagh and elsewhere? In my opinion, they will have to re-live the indescribable nightmare for a number of years longer. And there has been so much grieving by families, attending funerals, memorial services and protracted inquests.
What more can these good folk really have to take? When exactly is the grieving process expected to end and the healing process to become really effective? Republicans who have got no love for police on either side of the Border will be crowing with sheer delight as the spotlight is shifted from the lawbreakers to those charged with keeping law and order. How, one might ask can prospects for a new police service be enhanced by such an unpleasant spectacle?
I feel strongly that the interests of truth and justice seekers, however commendable will not be served by calling for yet another inquiry at this time. We shall probably never know if the planting of the bomb in Omagh could have been prevented or a single arrest carried out, had more rigorous evidence gathering techniques been adopted. As I see it until the politics in both jurisdictions is strong enough to compel key witnesses to provide the necessary evidence in court, to secure a conviction, another investigation procedure will not only be time wasting and expensive but entirely unproductive. That is my humble opinion.
The bottom line is surely self evident. All of us are agreed that nothing, absolutely nothing anyone can say or do now, can ever bring back those loved ones, whose lives were so swiftly and tragically cut short on Omagh's day of shame, 15th August 1998.
Wilfred Breen
Hospital Road, Omagh
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0898
Published Date: 20-Dec-01
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